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Senior Projects Spring 2016 Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects

2016

Self-Fashioning, Double Consciousness, and a

History of Representation: %e Narratives of

Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup as

Compared to Runaway Slave Advertisements

Samira Leila Omarshah

Bard College

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Recommended Citation

Omarshah, Samira Leila, "Self-Fashioning, Double Consciousness, and a History of Representation: 8e Narratives of Frederick

Douglass and Solomon Northup as Compared to Runaway Slave Advertisements" (2016). Senior Projects Spring 2016. Paper 327.

h9p://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2016/327

Self-Fashioning, Double Consciousness, and a History of Representation:

The Narratives of Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup as Compared to Runaway Slave

Advertisements

Senior Project submitted to

The Division of Languages and Literature

with a Concentration in Experimental Humanities

of Bard College

Samira Omarshah

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

May 2016

Dedications

My first dedication goes to my Senior Project Adviser Peter L’Official, for believing in my

ability to complete a successful project, especially when I struggled to believe in myself. The

literature department as well as the Bard community as a whole are very lucky to have you join

them. You easily became one of the most popular professors amongst the students, which is

telling considering this is only your second semester here! Thank you for your support and fun

SPROJ meetings, I know that you will continue to inspire all the students you encounter here at

Bard.

Next of course comes my loving mother, Yasmin Henn. You are and always will be my best

friend. We have been through so much together, with moving houses and countries. I could not

have completed my degree without your love, support and friendship. I never tell you enough

how much you inspire me. Thank you for showing me that it is possible to be loving and kind,

while still remaining strong and true to myself.

Doreen Seedat, I love you so much. Thank you for your endless wisdom (and nights spent

watching Downton Abbey). You always knew what to say when I needed it most, and I am so

grateful for that. I know I am your favorite grandchild - don’t worry, I won’t tell the others.

Pops, thank you for always being available to help me with everything. I really value your input,

especially when it comes to making big life choices. I am glad that you were able to come to

graduation, it means a lot to me.

Mireya Rodriguez, thank you for lowering your walls and letting me see the real you. I know that

it can be hard to let people in and I feel so lucky to have been one of the few who was able to see

all sides of your beautiful personality. In so many ways, you helped me look past the things that I

could not change and reminded me of the things that were in my control. You are so strong, but

also so crazy caring! I feel blessed to call you my best friend, I love you girl.

Mariamawit Fantahun, you are such a special, strong, sweet, intelligent, caring, and thoughtful

woman. Your constant love and friendship made even my darkest days a little bit brighter. I tell

you this all the time, but you are a ray of sunshine in the lives of many. I know that your time

here at Bard was hard and that so much of your pain I could not take away, but I will always be a

shoulder to cry on, your number one cheerleader and your soul sister.

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1: Devices. Du Bois and Douglass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 2: Twelve Years A Slave and Reversing the Gaze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Chapter 3: Coding and Reading the Texts with Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Omarshah !1

Introduction

Envision what it would feel like to be shut into a small, wooden box, about three feet

long and two feet wide, for 27 hours. The only provisions around you: a jug of water and a few

biscuits. Now, imagine how it would feel when the box was eventually opened. Finally, consider

for what reasons would one subject oneself to such circumstances?

Henri “Box” Brown, (the middle name given to him after his epic escape) a slave who

lived in Virginia in 1815, would not have to imagine such an experience. The end for which he

accepted the conditions described was simple: his freedom. He describes:

One day, while I was at work, and my thoughts were eagerly feasting upon the idea of

freedom, I felt my soul called out to heaven to breathe a prayer to Almighty God. I prayed

fervently that he who seeth in secret and knew the inmost desires of my heart, would lend me

his aid in bursting my fetters asunder, and in restoring me to the possession of those rights, of

which men had robbed me; when the idea suddenly flashed across my mind of shutting

myself up in a box, and getting myself conveyed as dry goods to a free state.

This quote is taken from but one example of a slave narrative written at the turn of the 19th

century. Brown experienced such brutal conditions in his time while enslaved, that he quite

improbably, mailed himself into a free state. The sense of urgency to escape slavery is present on

every page in Henri Brown’s narrative. After 27 hours of land and water travel, Brown arrived in

Philadelphia. Two abolitionists William Still and James McKim received Brown, who is said to

have climbed out of the box asking, “How do you do, Gentlemen?”. Later, in Brown’s own

Brown, Henry Box. The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown. Oxford: Oxford

UP, 2002. 51.

Omarshah !2

narrative he describes how after, “I was told that I was safe, I was to break out in song of

deliverance, and praise to the most high god...Great God, was I a freeman!” Brown would

unofficially be given the middle name “Box”, after his emancipation. Although he was advised

against publishing his story by Frederick Douglass - the famous orator and an escaped slave

himself - in order to protect potential future slaves escaping using the same method, Brown

would use his experiences as a platform to recreate his own identity and to write himself into the

new world.

Post-emancipation America witnessed a surge of interest by writers and journalists to

document the stories of former slaves. Up to 2,300 narratives were written or recorded and

subsequently collected by the Library of Congress. Over a third of these narratives collected

were due to the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration. It is important to

note that many published narratives required a stamp of approval from a white male figure. This

‘stamp’ was in the form of a ‘Preface’ or an introduction or letter stating that the information

revealed was accurate and therefore valuable. Also, it served as simple attestations of proof that

the author actually wrote the work, since most people would have doubted a slave’s capacity to

read and write. The ability to write - and indeed, to write oneself into existence by attesting to

that existence in prose - was something many slaves would have pursued, given the opportunity.

Of those published, common themes such as the recognition of self as an ‘other’, the recognition

of self as ‘object’ and then ‘property’, the testing of faith, the devastation of being separated from

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 63.

Omarshah !3

family, the brutal conditions within slavery and finally the difficulty assimilating into a world

that was not made for people of color post-emancipation appear.

Identity plays an important role in the development of the former slaves’ narratives as

there are many different perspectives through which African Americans viewed themselves. The

identities projected onto the slaves by their white oppressors included ideas of racial superiority.

The stories some former slaves would eventually include in their narratives attempt to counter

these notions as a way of recreating new identities. The narratives themselves act as a mode of

resistance against the belief that the slave identity was internalized.

In many ways, slave narratives represent written archives of the authors’ identities, and

testaments to those identities. Through consideration of what constitutes self-making and how

one represents a struggle almost entirely unknown to the intended reader (i.e. white Americans),

we may better see the parts of an identity that are either invisible or absent from the narratives

entirely. We are then called to ask: how might the authors of the narratives represent selves that

can garner sympathy from white audiences while simultaneously laying the foundation for their

own future identities in a free world?

In a sense, narratives such as the ones written by Frederick Douglass and Solomon

Northup acted as advertisements for abolition, and for creating a sentimental feeling within a

potentially unsympathetic audience. By thinking of slave narratives as advertisements, (with

advertisements meaning drawing attention to a cause/person/place/thing in order to promote it, or

Yetman, Norman R. "An Introduction to the WPA Slave Narratives." Library of Congress. N.p.: n.p.,

n.d. N. pag. Library of Congress. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/

snintro00.html>.

Omarshah !4

as a dictionary definition might add “Public notices designed to inform and motivate” ) one

might also understand that in the necessarily incomplete sketches of selves that comprise them,

there is much missing information regarding the experiences and the complex layers of identities

experienced by slaves. It is the information that is absent from the narratives that represents a

kind of resistance to the restrictive nature of a narrative as medium for an all encompassing an

identity.

This project aims to consider The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An

American Slave and Twelve Years A Slave a Slave Narrative of Solomon Northup as

5 6

advertisements for abolition as well as a medium for self-making for their authors. The project

will also compare these two narratives against the Runaway Slave Advertisements written by

slave owners. Runaway Slave Advertisements were a set of newspaper articles that described

runaway slaves. These were written by slave owners with the hopes of having the slaves captured

and returned. The advertisements consisted of detailed, physical and personality descriptions of

slaves who had managed to escape. Out of the examination of these primary and archival

sources, deeper issues concerning relationships between slave and master, as well as a narrative

"Advertisement." Business Dictionary. Accessed May 1, 2016.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/advertisement-ad.html.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York:

Dover, 1995.

Northup, Solomon. "Twelve Years a Slave Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen

of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853,

from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana." Edited by David

Wilson. Gutenberg-e. Last modified May 11, 2014. Accessed March 26, 2016.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45631/45631-h/45631-h.htm#CHAPTER_I.

Advertisements were taken from the the Geography of Slavery in Virginia Archives of the University of

Virginia:

The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. "Explore Advertisements." The Geography of

Slavery in Virginia. Accessed March 7, 2016. http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/index.html.

Omarshah !5

told from the ‘other side,’ arise. Invoking W.E.B. Du Bois’ theories of “double consciousness”,

having a “twoness of mind” and “the Veil”, the project will analyze the ways in which slaves

both externally and internally developed their identities.

Finally, through the use of digital coding and frequency analyses, the project will

explore questions of language regarding the words chosen by the former slaves as compared to

the words chosen by their white oppressors to describe the ‘slave’ identity. It is important to note

that slavery was a reduction of human beings to number values. The intention of this project is

not to mimic the same reduction. The digital analyses are a means of extracting information from

the two narratives and advertisements that would be missed from a ‘conventional’ close reading.

It is for this reason that the close readings of the two texts appear first in the project, followed by

an addition of the frequency analyses results.

Most broadly, this project considers the narratives of Frederick Douglass and Solomon

Northup as conventional in the literary sense. Through the use of narratives as a lens to consider

the runaway advertisements, two sides of the process of self-making are revealed. It begs the

question: what does it mean to present oneself as oneself in comparison to having a ‘self’

imposed? Since the narratives act as resistance to these impositions, whether it be through the

escape of the individuals or through the recognition of one’s own existence in the writing, hope

arises. With hope, follows possibilities for the illumination of distinguishing characteristics that

set Douglass and Northup apart as complex and resilient individuals.

The term ‘digital coding’ is referring to text analyses performed through a program called Python. The

language of Python allows for texts to be cleaned of their punctation and mined in order to generate

quantitative results with regard to word usage.

Omarshah !6

Just as Henri “Box” Brown used the notion of slaves being ‘objects’ and property as a

literal means of freeing himself, Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup used their traumatic

pasts as modes of self-making post-emancipation. The narratives of Brown, Douglass and

Northup all force us to ask: what does it mean to create a future when one’s history is denied?

Omarshah !7

Chapter 1: Devices, Du Bois and Douglass

The Inclusion of A Preface: A Stamp of Approval

Although the narratives themselves were written by Frederick Douglass and Solomon

Northup, they were not published until a white ‘stamp of approval’ verified their authenticity.

This ‘stamp’ was given in the form of a letter or preface, written by a white abolitionist, that was

appended to the narratives. Although the help of white abolitionists was a valuable asset in the

escape of many slaves — in, for example Henry Brown’s escape — the fact that a human being’s

story needed to have a stamp of approval is problematic, as it reveals that society at the turn of

the century did not fully trust that slaves were the most accurate authors of their own

experiences.

In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, he includes a

letter from famed white abolitionist Wendell Phillips as a way of introducing the reasons why a

narrative such as this is important. Phillips was most known for his theory that racial injustices

were the starting point for all of the problems in American society. He also supported the idea of

the separation of states in the United States as, he argues, a country could not be united if some

states were pro-slavery and others supported abolition.

In the letter at the start of Douglass’ narrative, Phillips emphasizes how Douglass comes

“from that part of the country where we are told slavery appears with its fairest features,” or was

McNamara, Robert. "Wendell Phillips." About Education. Accessed December 1,

2015. http://history1800s.about.com/od/abolitionmovement/a/Wendell-Phillips-biography.htm.

Omarshah !8

considered ‘less brutal’ when compared to the conditions of slavery in the deep South. He then

encourages us to “hear, then what it is at its best estate - gaze on its bright side.” This acts as a

reminder that even Douglass’ experiences as a slave were still considered less brutal when

compared to the conditions of slaves in the deep South. This comment contributes to the notion

that the narrative itself was an advertisement for abolition because if Douglass’ horrific

experiences as a slave were not as bad as other slaves, then a white audience might ask

themselves, “How much worse could conditions have been?” This might then lead them to feel

sympathy for other slaves in addition to Douglass. Furthermore, Phillips discusses how the best

person to tell the story of slavery is a slave or former slave himself, which is important, as many

believe the contrary to be true. White audiences often believed that, in fact, the least reliable

source to tell the story of slavery was a slave. Historian Walter Johnson asks the question of

authentication from a white figure in order for a slave narrative to be respected. He describes

how:

The antislavery history of these narratives has made some historians wary of using them as

sources for writing the history of slavery. In proslavery responses to the narratives, which

were taken up by early historians of slavery like Ulrich B. Phillips, the narratives were

treated as politically interested fabrications and were dismissed, according to one of the most

durable paradoxes of white supremacy — the idea that those who are closest to an experience

of oppression (in this case, former slaves) are its least credible witnesses.

Douglass was born and spent his time in slavery in Maryland.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, xvi.

Walter, Johnson. Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market.

Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. 9.

Omarshah !9

At the same time, Johnson warns not to use one perspective or narrative as a reflection of an

entire struggle. To see the history of slavery as solely a domination of white Americans over

black Americans is limiting, too, as one needs to consider the process and relationships of

slavery from selling to buying to owning to being owned.

Finally, Phillips gives credence to the fact that Douglass’ encounters with such acts of

cruelty “are the essential ingredients, not the occasional results, of the system,” highlighting that

Douglass was not the exception but an example of a greater cruel and inhumane system.

Similarly, Solomon Northup needed David Wilson, a white man, to authenticate that he

was a free slave who had been kidnapped . Wilson, an attorney from Whitehall, N.Y., described,

“That he has adhered strictly to the truth the editor, at least, who has had an opportunity of

detecting any contradiction or discrepancy in his statements, is well satisfied.” Thus, Northup’s

story was ‘put to the test’ and he was proved authentic because, “He has invariably repeated the

same story without deviating in the slightest particular…dictating an alteration where the most

trivial inaccuracy has appealed.” Northup had to submit to psychoanalysis conducted by a

white doctor before his narrative could be published to establish its veracity. Furthermore, to

portray Northup’s own literacy and ability to write, the opening of the text consists of an image

Johnson, Soul By Soul, 9.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, xvi.

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. "12 Years a Slave: Trek From Slave to Screen." The Root.

Last modified March 3, 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2013/10/

solomon_northup_trek_of_his_book_12_years_a_slave_to_the_big_screen.html.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, xv.

Omarshah !10

of Northup with the caption “Northup in his plantation uniform” followed by his own written

signature. By starting the narrative with his signature, Northup is highlighting: that he can read

and write, that he was a slave and finally, and most importantly, that he is now a free man who

exists and can be recognized as a human in the world. A signature is personal and unique. The

fact that Northup has his own, personal symbol that represents his existence is a powerful act of

resistance against a reader who would otherwise not acknowledge him as person. It also is a sign

and signifier of writing and literacy: both the fact that Northup can read and quite literally write

(with his own hand).

Recognition of Self as ‘Property’ or ‘Object’

A common device seen in all slave narratives is the recognition of self as property or an

‘object’. Henry Brown, Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup all questioned the notion that

they were considered not human. Where Douglass grappled with his ‘humanness’ through his

marriage certificate, Brown used words associating people and ‘things’ in order to call to

question that association itself. Brown describes how “the human as well as every other kind of

property, came to be divided equally amongst” the sons of the owner upon his death. Viewing

yourself through the eyes of the other becomes apparent here as African Americans born into

slavery were dehumanized and presented not only as ‘the other’, but as ‘the object’. Enslaved

African Americans experienced events where they were treated or spoken about as if they were

inanimate objects. Brown emphasizes how he had to ask permission from the owner of the

woman he had been courting, in order to marry her. He also had to ask him not to sell her after

See Figure 1 in Appendix

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 16.

Omarshah !11

they were married. He describes how, “He gave me a note to my master, and after they had

discussed the matter over, I was allowed to marry the object of my choice.” The use of the

word ‘object’ here emphasizes the absurdity, even then, to discuss a human being as something

inanimate.

Although at first Brown’s description of himself as an object seems solely a comment on

the strange and irrational justification of the institutionalization of making humans property to

other humans, his literal mailing himself to freedom was an example of true resiliency. Brown,

knowing his eventual method of escape, “accepts” the reduction of his personhood to object-

hood and then uses that very object-hood as the instrument of his escape. Brown dares his

captors in suggesting that, ‘if you’re going to treat me as an object, then an object I will become -

but, in doing so, I will liberate myself from both captivity and object-hood.’ In other words, if he

was to be treated and spoken to as if he were an object, then he could literally ‘take himself’ to

freedom.

Commodification of the Black Body

Slaves were sold for a price, which involves another identity being projected onto them

— a numeric value. Walter Johnson describes the quantification of the black body as “the chattel

principle”. He explains how, “[a]ny slave’s identity might be disrupted as easily as a price could

be set and a piece of paper passed from one hand to another.” He also would describe how

“slaves’ values always hung over their heads. Thus, if Du Boisian “double consciousness”

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 33.

Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market, 19.

Omarshah !12

describes a kind of inescapable “two-ness” of mind and self-perception, slaves experienced a

three-ness of mind: their own self-identification, their sense of themselves as object and property,

and finally their monetary value.

Johnson also describes the way in which double consciousness is limited in the sense that

it takes some of the ‘agency’ away from African Americans. He says:

The history of the enslaved people who toiled in those fields has generally been approached

through durable abstractions: “the master-slave relationship,” “white supremacy,”

“resistance,” “accommodation,” “agency.” Each category has been indispensable to

understanding slavery; together they have made it possible to see things that otherwise would

have been missed. Increasingly, however, these categories have become unmoored from the

historical experience they were intended to represent. The question of “agency” has often

been framed quite abstractly— counterpoised against “power” as if both terms were arrayed

at the ends of some sort of sliding scale, an increase in one meaning a corresponding

decrease in the other. But “agency,” like “power,” is historically conditioned: it takes specific

forms at specific times and places; it is thick with the material givenness of a moment in

time. “Agency: is less a simple opposite of “power” than its unfinished relief — a dynamic

three-dimensional reflection.

Johnson is focused on this idea that there are three perspectives that one can glean the most

understanding of the slave trade. He argues that “agency” is not the direct and equal correlative

to “power” — that agency is what remains when power is at its absolute limit. Agency is the

remnants of resistance that can be managed when power is exhausted. Although double

consciousness does allow us to understand what it means for slaves to see themselves through

Johnson, Walter. River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom.

Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 2013. Print. 9.

Omarshah !13

the eyes of their white oppressors, there is also an understanding in which whiteness and white

identity were constructed as a way of separating and distinguishing itself from black identity.

Johnson highlights how at risk yet, ultimately, courageous any exercise of “agency” was and is.

He is saying that agency is, despite not being the corollary to “power”, witnessed in the

reflections and places just beyond power’s reach. White Americans were significantly

outnumbered on the plantations by their slaves. Racial superiority acted as a tool to uplift whites

and to prevent the ascension of power by African Americans. Johnson also questions the form in

which American history is told as it makes slavery and the economy seem like two parallel

stories, each one changing without ever affecting one another, when in reality one fueled the

other. He then expresses how he:

[t]ried to understand a slave sale from the contingent perspective of each of its participants -

to assess their asymmetric information, expectations, and power, to search out their mutual

misunderstandings and calculated misrepresentations, to investigate what each had at stake

and how each tried to shape the outcome.

By considering slavery from both the perspective of the master as well as the slaves in

question, one can better understand the reactionary construction of identity. How does each side

of “a slave sale” affect the development of the other’s identity?

For more on the ‘untold story’ of slavery and the American economy see:

Baptist, Edward E. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of

American Capitalism. New York: Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books

Group, 2014.

Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New

World. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 2006.

Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market, 9.

Omarshah !14

Invoking Johnson here, a consideration of the Runaway Slave Advertisements will aid in

the understanding of the complex master and slave relationship. In what ways would reading

one’s own Runaway Slave Advertisement affect the way one fashions one’s identity in the

future? How does seeing oneself through the eyes of ‘the other’— in this case one’s owner, —

shape the understanding of one’s projected identity? In the case of an escaped slave, in what

ways might the owner feel responsible to re-capture his slave and thus re-establish his ‘power’

over that slave? Lastly, how can these advertisements act as the medium in which power that was

lost from not being able to subdue one’s own “property” is regained? After all, the successful

escape of slaves was made in direct defiance of the slaveholder’s power over them.

Double-Consciousness and Runaway Advertisements

In true Du Boisian fashion, Douglass’ narrative reflects how complex the struggle of

African Americans both during and after the time of slavery was. Indeed Douglass’ narrative also

illustrates one of Du Bois’ most famous theoretical concepts: ‘Double Consciousness’ and the

‘Veil’. Both terms, coined by Du Bois, refer in part to a separation of understanding between

African Americans and white Americans post-Emancipation. The first term, refers to a condition

in which African Americans are forever doomed to look at themselves both through their own

eyes as well as through the eyes of an outside ‘other’, most often their white oppressors. The

second, refers to an invisible wall that Du Bois suggests separated African Americans from their

white counterparts post-Emancipation, especially in terms of experience and cultural

Omarshah !15

understanding of the struggle black Americans faced trying to integrate into American society.

Du Bois describes how:

One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two

unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone

keeps it from being torn asunder.

Although slavery was eventually legally abolished, former slaves struggled to fully integrate into

American society as they were not considered whole citizens and they were significantly

disadvantaged as they had no property, savings, or inheritance. When an identity such as slavery

was projected onto Douglass and Northup, it was not internalized. They were viewing

themselves through the eyes of another. This gaze reflects a historical and literary understanding

and can be analyzed through the Runaway Slave Advertisements.

Runway Advertisements are notices displayed by masters to describe their runaway

slaves so that they can be captured and returned. As described by David Waldstreicher:

Runaway advertisements, in effect, were the first slave narratives - the first published stories

about slaves and their seizure of freedom. They differ from the later counter narratives of ex-

slaves and abolitionists in that the advertisements attempted to use print to bolster confidence

in slavery, rather than confidence in African Americans and their allies. Written by the master

Du Bois, The Souls of Black, 8.

Omarshah !16

class, they not only reveal but also exemplify the profitable contradictions of the mid-

Atlantic labor system.

Thus, the need “to bolster confidence in slavery” implies that the act of running of away was a

defiance of the foundation of slavery. If slaves were property and were ‘subdued’, the act of

planning and successfully carrying out an escape defies these notions. Especially when slaves

had the help of white abolitionists, this notion destabilized the idea that slavery was supported by

all white Americans.

In many ways, the advertisements highlight positive traits observed by masters of their

slaves and reveal the disconnect owners had from the human beings they bought and sold.

Disgruntled owners added assumptions regarding personality traits of the slaves based on

physical traits and descriptions as a way of dehumanizing and incriminating the slaves. This

complex relationship is explored further within Chapter 2.

Heritage, Education and the History of Literacy of Slaves

Literacy, amongst African American slaves, represented much more than a step towards

freedom and assimilation into a new world, post-emancipation. It also represented a mode of

resistance. Laws prohibiting teaching slaves to read began from the 1700s, in reaction to acts of

rebellion led by prominent African American figures. One of these figures, Jemmy, a

28 29

Waldstreicher, David. "Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning, Print Culture, and

Confidence in Slavery in the Eighteenth-Century Mid-Atlantic." JSTOR. Last

modified April 1999. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/

2674119. 247.

Warren, Kim. "Literacy and Liberation." Project MUSE. Last modified December

2005. Accessed April 22, 2016. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/190829. 511.

Warren, “Literacy and Liberation.” 511-512.

Omarshah !17

Congolese man, would use his literacy to unite over 100 slaves to march, carrying banners with

the word “Liberty!” written on them in what would be known as the Stono Rebellion.

Recognizing the power of literacy, South Carolina would implement the Negro Act a year

following the rebellion. The Act prohibited slaves from growing their own food, earning money

and finally, learning to read. Although previously these laws were existent, they had not been

enforced.

The reasons why slave-holders feared literate slaves is because it would be the first step

towards African Americans being able to contribute to dialogue regarding the laws and politics of

the systemized oppression. Literate slaves would be able to access, understand and then question

the laws that enslaved them. As described by author Kim Warren:

After 1800, when the legislature determined that previous laws had not kept African

Americans in “due subordination,” they enacted further restrictions on the gathering of slaves

and outlawed any kind of “mental instruction,” including reading, writing, memorization,

arithmetic, and more (p. 13). That same year, South Carolina extended its prohibitions to

include free African Americans. Like South Carolina, Georgia approved a statute to punish

anyone carrying printed material “for the purposes of exciting to insurrection, conspiracy or

resistance among the slaves, Negroes, or free persons of color.

An important addition to the laws was “free persons of color”. Why would the southern states

impose a law that hindered free people? If freed slaves were able to read, they would be a part of

the dialogue regarding the making of segregating laws. In other words, they would be advocates

"The Stono Rebellion." Public Broadcasting Services. Accessed April 22, 2016.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p284.html.

"The Stono Rebellion."

Warren, “Literacy and Liberation.” 512.

Omarshah !18

for the rights of those who were still enslaved. Those who were literate could then find

hypocrisies in common justifications of slavery. For example, slavery itself was many times

justified by re-appropriated Christian values and notions of racial superiority, the source for this

information, the Bible, would then be available to those weakened by its supposed contents.

The use of the phrase “laws had not kept African Americans in “due subordination,”

implies that the laws themselves are the reason for slaves escaping. Almost as if the laws were

responsible for “exciting to insurrection, conspiracy or resistance amongst the slaves.” The

language is reactionary in the sense that rebellion of the roles projected onto African-Americans

was incited. However, the relationship between slave and master is itself reactionary. Each

person performs systematically assigned roles, one of the subduer and the other of the subdued.

The best examples of reactionary language used by white slaveowners are Runaway

Advertisements.

In addition, education, or lack there of, was another form of control used by white

oppressors over African Americans. Douglass also describes his recognition that knowledge was

another form of control by the slave owners of Douglass’ time when his new mistress, Mrs. Auld,

teaches him the alphabet. His realization that knowledge was another form of control came when

Mr. Auld expressed how:

If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his

master -- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world.”

Waldstreicher, "Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning." 247.

Omarshah !19

Furthermore, Mr. Auld used terms such as “unmanageable”, “no value”, “do him no good”,

and it will make “him discontented and unhappy.

By using direct quotations, Douglass removes himself and any doubt that a white reader may

have regarding his credibility, and creates empathy. The reader ‘hears’ what a cruel white

slaveowner says about a slave, who is clearly in the room listening to this, and will judge the

speaker accordingly. Hearing this for Douglass, was the most powerful moment in the narrative,

as it marked the transition from youth to adult, as he realized and “understood the pathway from

slavery to freedom.” (Douglass 20) To a white reader, Douglass explains how preventing

someone from learning to read, as done by Mr. Auld following his realization that Mrs. Auld was

teaching Douglass, was an “evil” act. Douglass invokes the Christian rhetoric of ‘good and evil’,

inspiring white Christian readers to view the sin in keeping knowledge and information from

slaves.

However, this form of control was not just with knowledge taught at school. Douglass

opens the narrative describing his frustration at not knowing his own background and history. In

the middle of the text, he even describes how he realized how's growing literacy was basically

giving him the means to become ‘uncontrollable. Finally, at the end of the narrative when

Douglass was free, he makes a point of noting his marriage certificate. This document was a first

for Douglass, in the sense that it was an official certification of his existence. He copies his exact

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 20.

For more on legal ‘subordination’ and the ‘permissible bounds of slaves’ words and deeds’ see:

Wiethoff, William E. The Insolent Slave. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 2002. 17

In particular page 16:

“By 1806, for example, Louisiana lawmakers explained that the degraded condition of slaves rested

legally on their “absolute” subordination. “Not susceptible of any modification or restriction,” this

subordination entailed “a respect without bounds, and an absolute obedience. The circle was complete.

Slaves were debased because they had no rights because of their degraded nature. There was no remedy.”

Omarshah !20

certificate in the narrative as a way to emphasize how this recognition was powerful for someone

who had previously no proof of legitimacy as a citizen or even as a human being in the United

States.

An emphasis is placed by Douglass on the fact that he had no documentation to mark his

birth, age, family or existence. He describes how he has:

…no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing

it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs,

and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus

ignorant.

Douglass highlights how slaveowners used knowledge of the histories of the slaves themselves

as a form of control over the slaves. When Douglass describes his father, he refers to the

knowledge as being hearsay or:

He was admitted to be…the opinion was also whispered that my master was my father, but of

the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from

me.

Douglass emphasizes how not only was information regarding his father controlled by his

master, but also by his immediate family. The acquisition and furthermore, conveying of

knowledge is protected by the owner. The phrase “withheld from me” implies the knowledge was

available to Douglass’ owner however, there was purpose in keeping it from Douglass.

Garnering Sympathy From An Unsympathetic Audience

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1.

Omarshah !21

One of the intents for which slave narratives were written was to generate sympathy

amongst a white audience. Douglass also lays out the custom of slavery in Maryland, where he

lived, as being a place where:

It is common custom...to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently,

before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out

on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old

woman, too old for field labor.

With this, Douglass creates empathy with the unknowing white reader, who can see how barbaric

and inhumane it is to separate a mother from an infant. Douglass is using common cultural

understandings as a means of generating an understanding of the cruelty slavery or a reader who

has had no first-hand exposure to such practices. Henri Brown uses the same tool when he

describes the devastating moments in his life leading up to his escape, including being taken

away from his mother at 15 years old to work on another plantation in Richmond. He describes:

not having, during that time, seen, and very seldom heard from, my mother, my feelings were

very much tried by the separation which I had thus to endure. I missed severely her welcome

smile when I returned from my daily task; no one seemed at that time to sympathize with me,

and I began to feel, indeed, that I really was alone in the world; and worse than all, I could

console myself with no hope, not even the most distant, that I should ever see my beloved

parents again.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 2.

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 20.

Omarshah !22

Something as powerful as a separation of family members is a common scene that plays

out in the narratives as it evokes a universal devastation. Brown will further go on to explain the

pain his mother went through when her youngest child was taken from her. He describes how:

It was not till after she had begged most piteously for its restoration, that she was allowed to

give it one farewell embrace, before she had to let it go for ever.” Brown describes how, “this

kind of torture is a thousand fold more cruel and barbarous than the use of the lash which

lacerates the back; the gashes which the whip, or the cow skin makes may heal, and the place

which was marked, in a little while, may cease to exhibit the signs of what it had endured,

but the pangs which lacerate the soul in consequence of the forcible disruption of parent and

the dearest family ties, only grow deeper and more piercing, as memory fetches from a

greater distance the horrid acts by which they have been produced. And there is no doubt but

they under the weighty infirmities of declining life, and the increasing force and vividness

with which the mind retains the memoranda of the agonies of former years--which form so

great a part of memory's possessions in the minds of most slaves— hurry thousands annually

from off the stage of life.

Memories are forever, and many slave narratives emphasize how although they may be

free, their horrific experiences stay with them. The act of being whipped is a universal image

associated with slavery, even for a white audience, and to describe how the pain of losing one’s

child is worse than being a victim of a whipping, highlights the devastation felt by a parent who

is separated from their child.

Christianity and Faith

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 16-17.

Omarshah !23

Frederick Douglass uses Christianity as a means to connect with the white reader of his

narrative. His narrative paralleled the structure of early Christian narratives, where the main

character’s soul progresses eventually reaching ‘heaven’, or in other words, freedom. This was a

technique used by the narrator to connect the stories of African Americans who were enslaved

with a white Christian audience. Douglass’ structure follows his recognition of the injustices of

slavery from an early age, leading to his brutal experiences as an adult in chains, ending with his

emancipation. He credits ‘divine Providence’ as the reason for his salvation/emancipation from

slavery. He describes his being selected to move to Baltimore as being “the first plain

manifestation of that kind providence which has ever since attended me, and marked my life with

so many favors.” In this way, Douglass is reversing a former justification of slavery

(Christianity) as being something that God would be against. In other words, if God is

intervening to free a slave like Douglass, then does that mean that God is against slavery?

Similarly, as mentioned in the introduction, Brown’s plan for his escape would come after he

“felt my soul called out to heaven to breathe a prayer to Almighty God.” This would raise

questions from the Christian readers, that if God was in support of Christianity, why would he

answer the prayers of a slave asking to be freed? Brown himself would directly address this

question as he asks:

The advocates of slavery will sometimes tell us, that the slave is in better circumstances than

he would be in a state of freedom, because he has a master to provide for him when he is

sick; but even if this doctrine were true it would afford no argument whatever in favor of

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 18.

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 51.

Omarshah !24

slavery; for no amount of kindness can be made the lawful price of any man's liberty, to

infringe which is contrary to the laws of humanity and the decrees of God.

Brown and Douglass both describe their faith as a source of strength to persevere through

the brutal conditions of slavery. Christianity is an effective device in the narratives as it was a

common justification of slavery now being described as a source for a slave’s endurance. A white

reader at the turn of the century might perhaps consider if God agreed with slavery, then why

would he also give the slaves strength? When Brown’s wife is eventually sold, despite her master

promising him not to when he asked to marry her, he describes the tragic scene with references

to heaven and God. He says:

My agony was now complete, she with whom I had travelled the journey of life in chains, for

the space of twelve years, and the dear little pledges God had given us I could see plainly

must now be separated from me for ever, and I must continue, desolate and alone, to drag my

chains through the world. O dear, I thought shall my wife and children no more greet my

sight with their cheerful looks and happy smiles!....I seized hold of her hand while my mind

felt unutterable things, and my tongue was only able to say, we shall meet in heaven! I went

with her for about four miles hand in hand, but both our hearts were so overpowered with

feeling that we could say nothing, and when at last we were obliged to part, the look of

mutual love which we exchanged was all the token which we could give each other that we

should yet meet in heaven.

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 25.

Brown, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, 44 - 47.

Omarshah !25

Thus, according to Brown, not only was God witnessing this tragic event, he was intending on

reuniting Brown and his wife in heaven. The use of apostrophe here highlights Brown’s faith and

call to a higher power for comfort through this experience. A scene like this would be relatable to

a white audience as they could empathize with a marriage being divided.

Alongside ideas of good and evil, come ideas of inflicting pain and suffering. It also calls

to question how much a human’s soul, regardless of race, could take. Using Du Bois’ idea of this

two-ness of mind, or looking at ones own identity through the eyes of the white oppressor,

Douglass describes how the songs sung by slaves served a double purpose in healing the broken

souls of the slaves. He says, “The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is

relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by tears.” Douglass emphasizes how the

songs were sung as a means of expressing “the bitterest anguish,” while at the same time acted as

relief for “an aching heart.” Douglass tries to express the way in which he did not recognize or

understand how these songs looked from the outside as he was himself, “within the circle, so that

[he] neither saw nor heard as those with might see and hear.” Having a two-ness of mind and

spirit is expressed here as Douglass references being within and then following his emancipation,

being on the outside of the circle of slavery. To an audience who once gave no credibility to a

former slave to tell this story, Douglass highlights his own power, as he is able to understand

both what it is like to be enslaved and then to be free.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 9.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 8-9.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 8.

Omarshah !26

Finally, Douglass references the Du Boisian theory of double consciousness with the use

of chiasmus as a rhetorical device. Chiasmus, or relating two clauses to each other in inverted

parallelism, mirrors the two-ness of mind African Americans experienced when viewing their

identities. For example, Douglass describes how his one master, Mr. Covey, tried to whip him

but through Douglass’ resistance, he garnered some what of a respect from his white owner. He

describes, using chiasmus, how “My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance

took its place; and I know resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day

had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.” The inverted use of his view of his own

enslavement highlights how he asserted his own self respect and desire “to be used so no longer”

that he managed, in a system which prevented such, to gain power over his master. In this way,

the use of the rhetorical device creates a sense of heroism to the act of defiance and creates

empathy and almost encouragement for Douglass in this moment against the evil Mr. Covey.

Douglass is trying to create anger and hatred for a white slave owner by a white reader. He is

also highlighting how despite Mr. Covey’s view of him as his property, he viewed his own

identity differently and asserted his self-worth as a way to achieve respect from a white man.

As Box’s story became more widespread, it became clearer to a seemingly unknowing

white audience that slaves would go to the furthest extent to be free. This fact rings true

throughout many other slave narratives, too, although the emancipation stories in The Narrative

of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of

Solomon Northup were not as extravagant as Box’s. All three narratives use various rhetorical

devices to encourage support and sympathy amongst a white audience. Box would later move to

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 43.

Omarshah !27

England in order to avoid capture and re- enslavement following the Fugitive Slave Act, but

would return to the United States in 1875 where he performed magic tricks, including using the

famed box which he travelled in his acts.

Walls, Bryan, Dr. "Freedom Marker: Courage and Creativity." PBS. Corporation for Public

Broadcasting, n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/

stories-freedom/henry-box-brown/>.

Omarshah !28

Chapter 2: “Twelve Years A Slave” and Reversing the Gaze

Solomon Northup was born a free man in 1808 in Minerva, New York. Although his

father, Mintus Northup, was born a slave, Mintus was able to acquire land, qualifying him to

the right to freedom. Solomon acquired an education from his father, which as he describes as,

“surpassing that ordinarily bestowed upon children in our condition.” (Northup 21) Solomon’s

mother was classified as a ‘quadroon’, meaning she had one bi-racial parent (mixed black and

white) and one white parent. The term originates from France, and was often used alongside

other classifications such as ‘octaroon’ and ‘mulatto’, which differ in terms of the fractional

quantity of ‘African’ of which one was made- up.

Northup worked for a timber transportation company in Lake Champlain, New York.

He lived with his wife and children. Between his work contract, money earned playing the

violin and his wife cooking in the kitchens of a coffee house, Northup describes how they

“always returned home from the performances with money in our pockets…we soon found

surveils in the possession of abundance, and, in fact, leading a happy and prosperous life.”

Using Frederick Douglass’ experience as a lens, Northup can be described as being outside of

the ‘circle’ of slavery and the mindset of a slave.

Northup comes in contact with slaves who are traveling with their masters to

Clark, The Strange History of the American Quadroon: Free Women of Color

in the Revolutionary Atlantic World, 2.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 25.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 8.

Omarshah !29

Saratoga, where Northup eventually moves. He describes how “Almost uniformly I found

they cherished a secret desire for liberty.”

Northup portrays his shock that this was a

‘secret’ as he recognizes:

Having all my life breathed the free air of the North, and conscious that I possessed

the same feelings and affections that find a place in the white mans breast; conscious,

moreover, of an intelligence equal to that of some men, at least, with a fairer skin.

This revelation of having “the same feelings and affections” as white Americans shows just

how outside the circle of slavery Northup was. Because of his separateness from slavery,

however, his narrative also had the potential to resonate with a white audience in a special

way. Northup’s being born a free man with a relative ‘outsiderness’ from the world of slavery

in the South shows just how brutal an experience it was when he was kidnapped and then

enslaved for twelve years. Northup had the unique experience of knowing he was a free man,

being accepted and treated like an equal by many white counterparts and then having to

‘learn’ a new identity when he was eventually enslaved. Northup describes how:

I was too ignorant, perhaps too independent, to conceive how any one could be

content to live in the abject condition of a slave. I could not comprehend the justice of

that law, or that religion, which upholds or recognizes the principle of Slavery; and

never once, I am proud to say, did I fail to counsel any one who came to me, to watch

his opportunity, and strike for freedom.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 26.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 27.

Omarshah !30

The notion that those who were still enslaved were ‘content’ with their ‘abject condition’

emphasizes the ignorance Northup had regarding the life of a slave, prior to his own

enslavement. However, Northup hints here how he advised where he could on potential

escape plans with slaves of whom came in contact. Not only did Northup have the luxury of

time to ponder why the law of slavery was unjust, but he also had the educational means to

be able to question the justifications of slavery.

Northup’s kidnapping was carried out by two white men claiming to be interested in

hiring him for his violin playing abilities. According to the two men, they were affiliated with

a circus in Washington and would pay Northup daily for his services to them. Northup, excited

by the high paying wage offered, packed his bags and left with the men. Northup's wife and

children were away working in Troy, New York still, and thus Northup did not inform her

where he was being employed. In fact, Northup was sure he would be back in New York soon,

and so did not write to his wife to say where he was headed. This was an unfortunate decision

as Northup would not see his wife for twelve years.

The peculiarity of the justifications of slavery was not shared only amongst the

uneducated. In 1815, Thomas Jefferson drew up a rubric to “clarify to an acquaintance the

legal taxonomy of race.” He used an algebraic equation to describe the terms mulatto and

quadroon:

Let the first crossing be of a, pure negro, with A, pure white. The unit of blood

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 29-30.

Omarshah !31

of the issue being composed of the half of that of each parent, will be a/2 + A/2. Call

it, for abbreviation, h (half blood).

Let the second crossing be of h and B, the blood of the issue will be h/2 + B/2

or substituting for h/2 its equivalent, it will be a/4 + A/4 + B/2, call it q

(quarteroon) being 1/4 negro blood. This is important to note because

Jefferson was an intellectual and if he could find a mathematical justification

for slavery, then it is not surprising that southern white slave owners were

doing the same. Northup himself remarks how,

It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the

system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and associations

that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears, that the

rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change his opinions in maturer years.

Thus Northup highlights how the indoctrination of the system of slavery was not solely from

master to slave, but also the system and society itself teaching white children the expectations of

them with their treatment of African Americans.

Garnering Sympathy From an Unsympathetic Audience

Solomon Northup acknowledges from the start of his narrative that his experience of

slavery is limited solely to the twelve years he spent in its cruel clutches. He also recognizes the

importance of commenting on the topic of slavery, both in the fictional manor in which poets,

artists and authors are pursuing as well as personal narratives. However, he makes a key

Clark, The Strange History of the American, 1.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 206.

Omarshah !32

observation: Northup argues that although art does not have to be so faithfully founded in truth,

readers of his narrative should consider “whether even the pages of fiction present a picture of

more cruel wrong or severer bondage.” Northup’s post-liberation recognition that slavery has

become a phenomenon amongst artists and authors, highlights his awareness that people of all

walks of life are engaging in a discussion about the conditions of slavery. This is important to

note as then one can analyze Northup’s narrative for devices that can be classified as

‘advertisements for abolition’. In what ways does Northup shape his story so that a northern

white reader can empathize with a slave’s suffering?

Northup’s first Chapter describes his life as a free man prior to his kidnapping. He

emphasizes his close relationships with white men in New York, often commenting on how kind

and accepting they were of his and his wife’s business and personal endeavors. Whether it was

promoting his violin playing in local restaurants or hiring his wife to cater at banquets of

wealthy, well known families, he describes how he “entertained feelings of strong regard” for

many of his fellow, white citizens. Northup uses his strong founded relationships with white

northerners as a way of constructing an identity to which a white reader can relate. So we might

ask: If a man of color is treated as an equal by white men in the north, why does this not exist in

the South? Also, by expressing understanding for white men even after being enslaved, Northup

is showing his ability to separate his anger at white slave owners and traders from white

Northerners who do not have slaves. In doing this, the narrative reads as a criticism of the system

and not a force of guilt for white northerners. Guilt is a powerful emotion that can quickly harden

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 19.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 25.

Omarshah !33

the hearts of those experiencing it, Northup recognizes the value in harboring supporters of

abolition on both sides of the color line.

Northup describes how he was aware of his “intelligence [as] equal to that of some men,

at least, with a fairer skin.” This is an important comment to make as it counters notions of

racial superiority as a man who was not born under the conditions of slavery was able to be just

as educated and intellectually capable as a white man. Such a notion might register with a white

audience and would advertise the notion that it is the system of slavery and oppression that limits

a group of individuals from progressing in the world - not that they are biologically lacking.

Similarly to Frederick Douglass, Solomon Northup dwelled, understandably, on the grief

experienced from the separation of families within the slave trade. He describes his own struggle

from the moment he was falsely imprisoned as a runaway slave. His depression included

dreaming he was back in New York and that he could “see their faces, and hear their voices

calling me.” This dream soon ended when he awoke and realized the “bitter realities around me”

and could not “but groan and weep.” As a father and a husband, his depression and anguish at

the separation from his family strikes a chord for any reader - both freed and unfree people have

families.

In the case that an audience may not be able to relate to this anguish, perhaps due to

Northup being a man and a father as opposed to a woman and a mother, Northup includes a

moving testimony of a female slave named Eliza. Not unlike Northup, Eliza had lived a

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 27.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 47.

Omarshah !34

comfortable life prior to her being sold. Although she was born a slave, she was a favorite of her

masters and had been described by Northup as:

on condition of her living with him (her master), she and her children were to be

emancipated. She resided with him there nine years, with servants to attend upon her,

and provided with every comfort and luxury of life.

Eliza had been given an education and “her air and manners, the correctness and propriety of her

language - all showed, evidently, that she had sometime stood above the common level of a

slave.” The vivid description of Eliza’s comfortable upbringing juxtaposed with her eventual

separation from her children as her owner does not fulfill his promise to free her family, is a

devastation that evokes a visceral response. Eliza’s love for her children shows as Northup hears

her telling her children how “It would break her hear, God knew…if they were taken from her.”

Northup would eventually encounter Eliza later in his time enslaved and he described how:

She had sunk beneath the weight of an excessive grief. Her drooping form and hollow

cheeks too plainly indicated that she had well nigh reached the end of her weary road.

Northup's description of Eliza’s emotional trauma due to her barbaric working conditions and her

depression from being separated from her children, garners sympathy as one is able to recognize

the emotional as well as physical toll slavery took on those oppressed by it. It is important to

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 53.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 50.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 51.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 107.

Omarshah !35

note that these slave narratives were important because they provided a medium to express an

individuals history. In a sense, the narratives acted as family trees, testaments of existence,

personal, social and cultural histories. They acted as markers of the passage of time in an

individuals life. In many narratives, including Douglass’, the narrator expresses confusion

regarding where and when they were born and who their parents were. Thus the narrative as a

book symbolizes a personal archive of the individual who wrote it. The medium itself is an act of

rebellion against notions of a denied history as the reader is forced to physically hold the

contents of a slave’s life. It also forces the reader to acknowledge a past of a slave that was

denied by slave owners. Thus the narratives were personal archives for slaves as well as a tool of

rebellion against the systematic denial of the histories of slaves.

Transition From Freedom to Slavery

The transition from being a free man to being enslaved is particularly unique as Northup

had been raised with an acceptance of his humanity. Northup’s father had earned his freedom

through purchasing property, and thus his children were born free. They were educated and they

were taught that through hard work, one can live comfortably alongside white Americans.

African Americans like Frederick Douglass were born into slavery and experienced at a young

age the projected identity of being less than human by their white oppressors. Northup had to be

convinced of a lesser personhood.

The word convinced is purposefully used here because Northup had sense of his own

identity that he had built for himself. This identity included being a family man, a violinist, a

timber trader and in many circumstances, an intellectual equal (and in many ways superior) to

Omarshah !36

the white northerners he encountered. When he was sold into slavery, he expressed how “I had

reached a turning point in my existence - reached the threshold of unutterable wrong, and sorrow,

and despair.” Northup expresses a change in his ‘existence’ which reveals, at least within the

context of slavery, that Northup felt his existence rejected as soon as he was enslaved.

Furthermore, Northup uses weather imagery to illuminate feelings of a loss of identity when he

describes approaching a:

shadow of the cloud, into the thick darkness whereof I was soon to disappear,

thenceforward to be hidden from the eyes of all my kindred, and shut out from the sweet

light of liberty, for many a weary year.

The words ‘shadow’, ‘darkness’, ‘disappear’, ‘hidden’ and ‘shut out’ juxtapose against the image

of “the sweet light of liberty”. They also create notions of invisibility and a lack of recognition or

human acknowledgement, notions that Northup struggled to absorb coming from the life of

freedom and fulfillment he had in New York.

Language of Runaway Slave Advertisements

Runaway Slave Advertisements were narratives in and of themselves. They are especially

interesting to compare to the narratives of Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup as they

‘reverse the gaze’. The phrase ‘the gaze’ refers to W.E.B. Du Bois’ theory of double

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 27.

Omarshah !37

consciousness or “looking at oneself through the eyes others.” In considering the

advertisements written by white slave owners, one is able to see the slaves through the eyes of

their owners. Notions of projected identities become apparent as the clear disconnection of

understanding between slave owner and slave is revealed. The advertisements were written to aid

in the identification and recapturing of escaped slaves. Slave owners wrote detailed physical

descriptions of the individuals and in these descriptions they projected personality traits that

might be “recognizable” by a stranger. This is where such a disconnect between slave and owner

becomes apparent. Many positive qualities of the people described are often twisted and used as

criticisms due to the fact of their successful escape. The advertisements become narratives of

undeservedly demonized individuals. A perhaps not surprising outcome arises when comparing

these two sets of documents: the words chosen by the former slaves to describe their white

oppressors is the same as the words chosen by their white oppressors to describe them. Thus an

identity is projected onto the slaves by slave owners.

The archives of the regions Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland are the most

extensive in the country and thus have a significant number of original runaway advertisements

that are digitized for public access. For this reason, the advertisements considered will be taken

from The Geography of Slavery in Virginia project facilitated by the University of Virginia. As

it so happens, Henry “Box” Brown and Solomon Northup were enslaved in Virginia and

Frederick Douglass was born and lived during his time in slavery in Maryland. An example of a

Runaway Slave Advertisement where a projected identity can be seen is one published on May

Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, 8.

"District of Columbia Daily Advertiser (J. and J. D. Westcott), District of Columbia, May 27, 1800."

Virginia Center for Digital History. U of Virginia, 2005. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. <http://

www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/search/relatedAd.php?adFile=vg1800.xml&adId=v1800050009>.

Omarshah !38

27th, 1800 by the District of Columbia Daily Advertiser. Below is the transcript of the full

Stop the villain! RAN away from the subscriber the 12th of May, 1800, a likely negro

man, named HARRY. 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, aged 36 or 37 years; he has generally a

down look; his complexion is of a brown, his hair longer than negroes usually wear it,

and he is bowlegged, though active and well made. For some years past he lived at the

Occoquan Mills. He has lived in Alexandria, and was there in January, February, and

March, 1799, working with one Turner, a carpenter, or house joiner--His trade is that of a

carpenter, though he has worked frequently at the House joyner's, ship carpenter's & mill

right's business, and from his understanding and ingenuity, is capable of doing good

work at either, when attended to. I expect he will forge pass and go off and hire himself,

as he can write an indifferent hand. He calls himself Henry Brown. All persons, and

particularly tradesmen with masters and owners of vessels, are cautioned against

harboring, employing, taking on board, or carrying off said negro, and will prosecute all

such with the utmost rigour. Any person who will apprehend the said Negro Harry, shall

receive the following rewards, to wit, TEN DOLLARS if taken up within 20 miles of the

town of Dumfries, in the county of Prince William, and state of Virginia, and either

secured in the prison of the said county, so that I get him, or delivered to me at my place

of residence in the said county and state; TWENTY DOLLARS, if taken up more than

twenty, and within thirty miles of the aforesaid town, and secured in the prison of the

county where taken, so that I get him, or delivered to me as aforesaid, FIFTY

DOLLARS if taken out of the state or more than thirty miles from the aforesaid town,

within the state, to be secured in prison, so that I get him, or delivered to me. Bertrand

Ewell. May 27, 1800.

"District of Columbia Daily Advertiser (J. and J. D. Westcott), District of

Columbia, May 27, 1800." Virginia Center for Digital History. U of

Virginia, 2005. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. <http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/

search/relatedAd.php?adFile=vg1800.xml&adId=v1800050009>.

Omarshah !39

The advertisement begins with the line “Stop the villain!”, immediately drawing attention to the

urgent tone. The use of the word ‘villain’ is purposefully chosen to create an unnerving feeling

amongst the people reading the section of the daily advertiser. The imperative voice also unifies

those reading to take a stand against said ‘villain’. Towards the end, there is even a word of

caution to tradesmen from ‘harboring’ the runaway slave, invoking images of a fugitive who

could turn on those who attempt to hide him at any moment. The advertisement continues by

describing the physical and personality traits of the individual, describing how, “He has generally

a down look; his complexion is of a brown, his hair longer than negroes usually wear it, and he is

bowlegged, though active and well made.” The description is loaded with projections and

insight into the relationship between slave and owner. The owner describes the individual as

having ‘a down look’, as if it is particularly shocking for a slave to look depressed at the

condition he is forced to live in. This highlights the disconnect between slaveowners and their

slaves as the author of this advertisements believes that a slave who looks sad or depressed

would be particularly remarkable. The comparison of the man’s hair as being “longer than

negroes usually wear it”, shows some form of recognition that the owner could distinguish the

man described from his other slaves. The phrase ‘well made’ conjures notions of property and

the projected objectified identity slave owners placed on their slaves. Instead of describing a

man, the owner is describing a ‘villain’, instead of describing a human being, the owner is

describing a ‘well made’ object. This is furthered when the advertisement states, “he calls

himself Henry Brown.” as opposed to his name is Henry Brown, (Not to be confused with Henry

“Box” Brown). The recognition of the name and therefore identity of “Henry Brown” shows a

"Explore Advertisements." The Geography of Slavery in Virginia. The Rector and Visitors of the

University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. <http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/index.html>.

Omarshah !40

victory for the runaway, as his owner is forced to acknowledge his former slaves’ own sense of

self in order to best be able to recapture him. The advertisements considered here are evidence of

just how peculiar an institution of slavery was in that these details reveal the at time intimate and

human knowledge that slaveholders would have about their slaves. The details indicate a care for

another being, at least for their appearance if not for their status as equal or as property.

The word ‘active’, as becomes apparent upon reading various advertisements, shows a

direct correlation to the value of the slave in question. The more hard working and ‘active’ the

person is described, the higher the reward value for the returning of the slave to the owner. Thus

there was another identity projected onto slaves; their monetary value to their owners. If

individuals such as, “Henry Brown’ were to have read their own advertisements, they firstly

would most likely avoid trying to match the descriptions, however vague, of their

advertisements, and secondly, would be able to see inside the minds of their former owners with

regard to how they were viewed.

Henry Brown’s former owner provides increased reward amounts based on where Brown

is captured; the further away he is captured, the more money rewarded. This shows how valuable

Brown is to his owner. The advertisement forces slave owners to publicly express how much the

runaway individuals’ are worth to them. Although it is with the intention of recapturing and re-

enslaving the people described, there has to be a certain amount of ‘give’ expressed by the owner

in order for people to feel motivated to look for said individuals. Furthermore, the demonization

of the individuals, for example calling Henry Brown a ‘villain’, is a way of incentivizing the

capture of the individuals without having to directly recognize that the runaways were

impressively able to escape their dire conditions. Three questions are raised in response to these

Omarshah !41

notions, at least by a reader in the time period who may consider searching for the individuals

described; the first is, if the runaway slave is such a ‘villain’ and should be treated with ‘caution’,

then why would an owner want him or her back? The advertisement uses the phrases “so that I

get him” and “delivered to me” a total of six times, highlighting the desire for said runaway to be

returned. Secondly, if the ‘active’ individual does do ‘good work’ and is so educated for his

situation, then what would drive him/her to runaway? Finally, in what ways does the

manipulation of physical detailed description and discrediting of impressive talents and skills of

the slaves by their owners reveal the unstable grounding of the justification of racial superiority?

These questions are important because they show how the advertisements, when considered as

narratives themselves, reveal hypocrisies and projected identities that empower instead of

discredit the escaped slaves described.

The authors of the advertisements do not consider the possibility that such detailed

advertisements could lead to the further disguising and disappearing of the runaway in question.

Brown’s advertisement reads, “I expect he will forge pass and go off and hire himself, as he can

write an indifferent hand” as well as includes other somewhat complimentary skills such as

having “understanding and ingenuity”. The mention of impressive qualities, such as being able to

read and write, are often twisted to form an image of someone deceptive and conniving, rather

than clever and capable of success as a free man. The tone is so dismissive and hateful, both of

the slave’s escape and of their having developed faculties that might indeed aid in their lives

away from their owner. For example, Brown is already being accused of forging another man’s

handwriting, solely because he has the ability to write. To use a phrase from historian David

Waldstreicher, the author’s of the advertisements twisted the talents of the runaways to become

Omarshah !42

‘profitable contradictions’. What was profitable was to demonize the particularly educated and

talented runways as if they would become a problem to society. Once again, this can be seen as a

success as the mere acknowledgement by the owner of the skills of his former slave, uplifts the

individual’s self-forged identity.

An advertisement such as this could have been used to describe Frederick Douglass or

Solomon Northup. Both gentleman were ‘active’, hardworking, intelligent and talented in many

ways other than in their ability to perform physical labor. Had either of these individuals seen the

descriptions of themselves by their former owners, they would have experienced a rather literal

form of Du Boisian double consciousness having seen themselves through the eyes of another.

Douglass, having managed to step out of the circle of slavery and experienced what it was like to

be a free man, would be able to separate the projected identity imposed by the slaveholding ads

from the one is he creating and gathering for himself. Northup would see the projections of

descriptions he would have used to describe his particularly harsh masters, rather than himself.

The story of slavery had, up until slave narratives, been expressed solely through the eyes of the

slave-owners. If former slaves were able to write, a new perspective and therefore a new

narrative of slavery could be told. The voice of the oppressed would garner a visceral and

sympathetic response from a reader who had not considered their perspective.

Perhaps Northup did see runaway slave advertisements, and thus inspired the language

used in his narrative. In fact, Northup’s descriptions of his owners have similar structures and

Waldstreicher, "Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning.” 247.

Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, 8.

Williams, Heather Andrea. Self-taught: African American Education in Slavery and

Freedom. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. 7.

Omarshah !43

language to the runaway slave advertisements. However, Northup’s descriptions are much more

detailed and therefore more convincing than the poorly portrayed runaway advertisements. An

example can be seen in his description of his second owner, Edwin Epps, whose erratic behaviors

due to his constantly drunk state, lead him to take pleasure in the beating of his slaves. Northup

reveals:

Edwin Epps, of whom much will be said during the remainder of this history, is a large,

portly, heavy-bodied man with light hair, high cheek bones, and a Roman nose of

extraordinary dimensions. He has blue eyes, a fair complexion, and is, as I should say,

full six feet high. He has the sharp, inquisitive expression of a jockey. His manners are

repulsive and coarse, and his language gives speedy and unequivocal evidence that he

has never enjoyed the advantages of an education. He has the faculty of saying most

provoking things, in that respect even excelling old Peter Tanner. At the time I came into

his possession.

The detailed descriptions of Epps’ physical features, such as he is ‘heavy-bodied’ and has ‘a

Roman nose’ highlights the perceptive nature of Northup to read people. In many ways, although

the runaway slave advertisements were attempting to be accurate, they were not half as specific

and clear as Northup’s of his owners. Unlike the advertisements, Northup’s portrayal of the cruel

and uneducated nature of Epps is eloquent and impressive. It raises the question of if a former

slave can recount such an exact description of his owner years after being separated, why could

not a slave owner, who has incentive to recapture his slave, recount notable features of a slave

who has only escaped for a few days? Furthermore, Northup’s narrative transforms into a fact-

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 162-163.

Omarshah !44

ridden advertisement for abolition as he accounts for the unjustified acts of cruelty performed by

his owners. Northup even quotes his former masters, describing how:

When "in his cups," Master Epps was a roystering, blustering, noisy fellow, whose chief

delight was in dancing with his "niggers," or lashing them about the yard with his long

whip, just for the pleasure of hearing them screech and scream, as the great welts were

planted on their backs. When sober, he was silent, reserved and cunning, not beating us

indiscriminately, as in his drunken moments, but sending the end of his rawhide to some

tender spot of a lagging slave, with a sly dexterity peculiar to himself.

By directly quote Epps, Northup is not only highlighting the cruelty of a master who is a cruel,

drunkard, but also that he remembers so vividly his time in slavery. The words ‘sly’, ‘silent,

reserved, and cunning’ are all highly common words that appear in the runaway slave

advertisements to describe slaves. Yet the advertisements reveal no evidence for these

characteristics other than assumptions made from vaguely described physical features and the

fact that the slaves successfully escaped. Runaway slave advertisements consisted of a few

common elements: “a description of the runaway information to hasten the runaway’s capture,

the reward offered, and the name of the person placing the ad (“subscriber”)”. A white reader of

Northup’s narrative will most definitely have encountered runaway advertisements.

Northup describes his feelings of viewing himself through the eyes of his white

oppressors on many occasions. During negotiations of the buying and selling of slaves, slaves

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 163.

"Run away from the Subscriber." National Humanities Resource Toolbox. Accessed

May 1, 2016. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text8/

virginiarunawayads.pdf.

Omarshah !45

were ‘showcased’ and put on display, with their positive qualities highlighted by their owners so

as to attract a higher price for them. In some cases, companies would create mass showrooms to

present the slaves. As described by the scholar Walter Johnson:

As it became clear that there was a great deal of money to be made buying, transporting,

and reselling slaves, a set of highly organized firms emerged to compete with the

footloose speculators. Their firms maintained offices, complete with high walled jails

that could house as many as a hundred slaves at a time, large yards where the human

property could be exercised, and showrooms where interested buyers could question and

examine the people they hoped to purchase.

Northup describes a similar scene where his master Edwin Epps puts him on display for another

man and speaks of him as if he was not standing right next to him. Epps takes hold of Northup’s

arm and lists all of Northup’s talents, emphasizing how “he isn’t like others” and how he

“doesn’t look like ‘em - don’t act like ‘em.” Epps uses phrases such as “have him”, “put

together” and “got the muscle in him” emphasizing the way in which Epps viewed Northup as

property and not a human being. Northup in the eyes of Epps was ‘made’ well, as if he were

created in a factory, rather born into the world with a family. In reducing a man to an

accumulation of parts and skills, it becomes simpler to almost calculate the man’s worth. The

viewing of slaves as solely a sum of their parts and not for the complexities as human beings

becomes apparent in the runaway advertisements, too. The advertisements jump from physical

trait to physical trait, from personality assumption to future action guess. The advertisements, in

Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, 41.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 283.

Omarshah !46

this way, cannot be seen as narratives as they themselves are merely a sum of unconnected parts.

Whereas Northup’s description of Epps is a series of observations that match actions that

Northup has witnessed. However, based on the definition of advertisement given at the start of

the paper, Northup’s narrative can be seen as an advertisement as he is drawing attention to a

cause and experience with the hopes of informing and motivating his reader to support abolition.

The man, Bass, responds to Epps that he cannot see the talents that Epps describes, at

least physically. Epps then encourages Bass to feel Northup, as if this this would indicate

Northup’s worth. Bass, perhaps unintentionally, highlights the limitation of a physical

appearance as a representation of a human being.

The runaway advertisements act as narratives for the projected and limited view slave

owners had of their slaves as complex individuals. Northup’s description of Bass furthers this

notion of the limitations of representing an individual completely through a written account of

another person’s observations. Even Northup’s narrative, despite being written by Northup

himself, cannot be considered a full account of Northup’s layers of identities.

Northup's account of Epps compared to his account of Bass is completely different and

thus reveals how Northup valued Bass as someone who’s “true heart overflowed with noble and

generous emotions.” Northup expresses how he owes “an immeasurable debt of gratitude” to

Bass and that “Only for him, in all probability, I should have ended my days in slavery.”

Northup’s observations regarding Bass’ physical appearance is minimal where Northup

recognizes “It will be difficult to convey a correct impression of his appearance or character.”

This implies that those who were kind and valued by Northup are given the respect of not even

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 264.

Omarshah !47

attempted description of their physical attributes. In a way, Northup honors their identities by not

writing a ‘runaway advertisement’ for them. Northup carries with him years later the “look of

recognition and significance” given to him by Bass.

Northup's narrative where he describes both his white oppressors and white allies shows

striking similarities and important differences to runaway slave advertisements. He recognizes

the limiting nature of trying to encapsulate an entire being in one short description when he

discusses his allies. When comparing his narrative to the advertisements, it becomes apparent

that the information and personality traits described in the runaway advertisements are based on

assumptions and unjustified leaps made by disgruntled slave owners.

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 284.

Omarshah !48

Chapter 3: Coding and Reading Texts with Python

While performing a frequency analysis on a document as historically rich and

emotionally moving as a slave narrative, there is much of information that cannot be gleaned

from the narratives. Just as the runaway advertisements attempt to portray a ‘full’ account of the

people they describe and fail, the authors of slave narratives purposefully resist fully revealing

their experiences and parts of their identities. They keep stories to themselves that the reader will

never know and this prevents the reduction of humans to an object — in this case a book.

Whether it was keeping information out of the narratives for the protection of future slaves

escaping in the same way or whether it was for the sake of guarding an identity that was so often

minimized, Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup’s narratives can be seen as literary

arguments against quantification of the human body. The conversion of human being to value

cannot draw meaning and similarly, the performance of a frequency analysis cannot represent the

identities of Douglass and Northup. For this reason, I argue that the two narratives considered

can be seen as ‘resistance narratives’ as they reflect the parts of the identities that cannot be

quantified and therefore reduced. There are also parts of a written form narrative that are limiting

in the sense that due to the low literacy rate amongst slaves, many slaves perfected the art of oral

tradition. Slaves had, at least according to historian Robert B. Stepto, “a fairly well developed

version of his or her tale either memorized or (more likely) sufficiently patterned for effective

presentation, even before the question of written composition was entertained”. This adds

Stepto, Robert B. From behind the Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative.

Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1979. 9

Omarshah !49

another layer of potentially lost information, experience and emotion when a former slave

presents his/her story in written form.

It is important to address the procedure used for analyzing both texts, The Narrative of

the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of

Solomon Northup through a computer program. In the same way that reading a narrative about a

person’s life or experiences being enslaved does not encapsulate the entire identity of said

person, running a text through a machine that spits out numbers does not either. Frederick

Douglass and Solomon Northup had lives outside of the narratives they wrote about their lives.

The purpose of performing this ‘experiment’ of using code to calculate the frequency of and

association with certain words, is to analyze the moments where Douglass and Northup

recognize themselves as human beings. In teaching a computer how to ‘close read’ a text,

important information is gleaned regarding a layer of the identity of Douglass and Northup.

Through the close reading of the Runaway Slave Advertisements, disconnects between master

and slave understanding becomes apparent.

Slavery was a reduction of human voices into numbers and values. It is important to note

that this is not the intention of the project nor is it the intention to make claims regarding fully

understanding Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup as individuals. This experiment

stemmed from curiosity of the potential of the digital humanities and computer generated

analyses to reveal further information from the texts, that could be missed through manual close

reading. Although close reading of a key passage ‘manually’ can be telling in terms of rhetorical

devices such as metaphors, imagery, repetition etc, there are certain patterns that are missed from

this method of analyzing. There are characteristics of the voices performing their narratives that

Omarshah !50

the program cannot read, and it is these characteristics that add to the complex identities of

Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup.

There is significant stigma surrounding the idea of using technology to analyze literature.

As described by Alan Liu, Professor in the Department of English at UC Santa Barbara, the

stigma arises not from mining texts for word frequencies and associations, but rather what to do

with such information and how to extract meaning from this information. Liu considers Ryan

Heuser and Long Le- Khac’s A Quantitative Literary History of 2,958 NineteenthCentury British

Novels: he Semantic Cohort Method (2012) , where Heuser and Le-Khac ask major questions

within the field of the digital humanities:

The general methodological problem of the digital humanities can be bluntly stated:

How do we get from numbers to meaning? The objects being tracked, the evidence

collected, the ways they’re analyzed—all of these are quantitative. How to move from

this kind of evidence and object to qualitative arguments and insights about humanistic

subjects—culture, literature, art, etc.—is not clear.

Thus, various challenges arise from using technology to ‘read’ a text for meaning. One of the

first challenges encountered when using Python to mine the narratives by Douglass and Northup

For more on slave narratives as performance see:

Stepto, Robert B. From behind the Veil: A Study of Afro-American Narrative.

Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1979.

Liu, Alan. "What is the Meaning of the Digital Humanities to the Humanities?"

Modern Language Association International Bibliography on InfoTrac. Last

modified 2013. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.mlajournals.org/doi/pdf/

10.1632/pmla.2013.128.2.409.

Liu, "What is the Meaning.” 411.

Omarshah !51

was looking for figurative language. How does one ask a computer to locate each moment an

author refers to the concept of ‘self’ or ‘identity’, for example, when the majority of such

references are through imagery, symbols and metaphors. The next challenge was how to analyze

information that was provided in such vast amounts. For example, the word ‘self’ appeared over

125 times in Frederick Douglass’ narrative, and that was including words such as ‘himself’,

‘herself’ and ‘myself’. Thus specific programming had to be put into place to search for the word

‘self’, but only when there was a space before the letter ’s’ and after the final letter ‘f’. Finally,

the selection process of the words that the program was asked to find had a sense of an ‘observer

affect’. Almost as if the text was read differently because I was finding exactly what I was

looking for.

Alan Liu referred to the phrase ‘distant reading’ which, in the case of the narratives

considered through the eyes of a computer program, seemed applicable. When one ‘manually’

close reads a text, various themes and rhetorical devices are extracted. Simultaneously, before

one even begins the novel, there are no specific expectations of words that would most

frequently appear together. Perhaps the reader has heard of the author and has a sense of the

genre, a few general themes and the first name of the main character in mind from prior

discussion. However, generally speaking the initial engagement with the text is ‘pure’. When you

perform frequency analyses to mine a text for specific words, there is a possibility for

information to be missed. At the same time, there are possibilities with technology which could

also be ‘missed’ when reading manually. For example, it is difficult to keep track of sentence

structure, in particular, the usage of prepositions when you are reading a text manually. With a

Omarshah !52

program such as Python, you can command for the computer to consider the number of words

that surround prepositions such as ‘for’ and ‘after’.

The experiment that I conducted with the help of a computer science student involved

programming Python to calculate the number of times a list of words was used in the narratives

of Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup and the Runaway Slave Advertisements. The

‘programming’ itself involved teaching the computer how to ‘read’ a text. The first step was to

ask it to ‘clean’ the text of punctuation by commanding for it to replace apostrophes, exclamation

marks, periods…etc in each ‘string’ (word) with a blank space. Next, I wrote out a list of words

that the program would count appeared in each of the texts. The first experiment split the

Frederick Douglass’ and Solomon Northup’s narratives in half, and calculated the number of

times the word (and variants of the word) ‘I’ appeared in the first half of the narrative as

compared to the second half. The second experiment calculated the number of times a list of

words appeared in the Runaway Advertisements as compared to the two narratives each as a

whole.

The process of word selection to create a list to mine the narratives was based on W.E.B.

Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness which, as mentioned in previous chapters, describes the

viewing of oneself through the eyes of an other. I was interested in comparing the words used

to describe the runaway slaves in the advertisements by white oppressors to those used by

Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup to describe themselves. In this way, I would consider

Alexander Goodlad was my coding expert. It was particularly telling explaining how I wanted the

computer to ‘sort’ through the texts and then having Alex translate this into Python (a computer

language).

See Figure 2 in Appendix

Du Bois, The Souls of Black, 8.

Omarshah !53

if the projection of the slave identity by ‘an other’ onto a slave was internalized by slaves such as

Douglass and Northup. I also kept in mind David Waldstreicher phrase of ‘profitable

contradictions’ , where talents that slaves developed that would help them in their escape of

their masters clutches were manipulated by slaveowners in the advertisements to seem like

negative traits. For example, a slave who could read and write would be described as capable of

forging a signature. The words that were selected were an accumulation of adjectives, ad-verbs

and verbs which were projected onto runaway slaves from a series of advertisements. They

were: smooth, cunning, clever, active, changed, disguise, alter, attempt, artful, imposter, good,

bad, abscond, lying, lie, remarkable, lurking, sly, tolerable, existence, identity, expect, believe,

suspect and likely. The words ‘believe’, ‘suspect’, and ‘likely’ were chosen because many of the

descriptions of slaves in the advertisements were unjustified and mostly guesses at characteristics

many of the individuals did not actually possess. Furthermore, due to the notion of ‘profitable

contradiction’ occurring, positive attributes were manipulated to sound villainous.

The results of the first experiment revealed important information regarding when in the

plot of the narratives both Douglass and Northup began believing themselves to be people. This

was tested by calculating the quantity of times the word ‘I’ was used in each section of the

narratives. Douglass, who was born into slavery, was taught from young that he was considered

less than human compared to his white counterparts. The first half of his narrative describes his

time in slavery. The latter half describes his time post emancipation. Thus, the expected results

would be that Douglass would refer to himself as ‘I’ less times in the first half of his narrative in

Waldstreicher, "Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning.” 247.

See Figures 3 - 8 in Appendix

Waldstreicher, "Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning.” 247.

Omarshah !54

comparison to the second half. This in fact proved to be true. In the first half of Douglass’

narrative, the word ‘I’ appeared 358 times and in the second half it appeared 671 times. That

means Douglass referred to himself as ‘I’ almost twice the number of times in the latter half of

his narrative than in the first part. This outcome reflects the plot and the theory of Double

Consciousness as Douglass was viewing himself through the eyes of his white oppressors

during his time in slavery. The slave identity projected onto him consisted of notions of

dehumanization and racial inferiority. If Douglass viewed himself as less than human then that

would mean he would seldom use ‘I’ to express himself. In using ‘I’ almost double the number of

times when he was free, Douglass is acknowledging himself as not only a human but also a voice

worth hearing in the writing world.

However, it is neither fair nor accurate to portray Douglass as someone who internalized

the slave identity projected onto him solely because he was born into slavery. What led to

Douglass’ desire to seek freedom was his restlessness at the fact that he was given less than what

he was owed, in both in terms of treatment and payment for his labors for his owners. He

portrays how:

I could see no reason why I should, at the end of each week, pour the reward of my toil

into the purse of my master….The fact that he gave me any part of my wages was proof,

to my mind, that he believed me entitled to the whole of them.

See Figure 9 in Appendix

Du Bois, The Souls of Black, 8.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 57.

Omarshah !55

Douglass felt entitled to more in his life even while he was still a slave. His feelings of

uneasiness at receiving just a part of his own wage reveals that individuals who were born into

slavery did not internalize their subjected roles. Douglass will go on to describe how he was told

to set “aside my intellectual nature, in order to contentment in slavery” by a slave owner who

suspected him of trying to escape. In other words, even white slaveowners at the time admitted

that in order to find peace with slavery as a system, one had to ignore one’s intellectual nature.

Expectations regarding Northup’s usage of the word ‘I’ can be considered differently

because he was born a free man. Northup’s time in slavery was over twelve years in his adult

life. The majority of the first half of his narrative Northup is discussing his life as a free man and

the history of his family. For this reason I predicted that the use of the word ‘I’ would be

significantly greater than the second half of the narrative where he is discussing his experiences

in slavery. This hypothesis matched the results, however not with a significant difference

between the values. Northup used ‘I’ 751 times in the first half of his narrative and 628 times in

the second half. Northup resisted many of his masters’ attempts at projecting an inferior identity

onto him and in many ways used skills he learned as a free man as a means to better his life in

chains. Therefore, Northup’s use of the word ‘I’ consistently throughout his narrative reflects

how he did not internalize the projected slave identity during his time in slavery. In other words,

if the reference of oneself as ‘I’ is a reflection of a belief in one’s own ‘humanness’, then

Northup maintained the belief that he was a person and not property.

With regard to the results of the words used in the runaway advertisements to describe the

slaves as compared to the words chosen by Northup and Douglass to describe their masters as

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 58.

Omarshah !56

well as their own identities, there were a few important findings. The words that most appeared

in Douglass narrative which were shared amongst the runaway advertisements were ‘clever’,

‘believe’,’bad’ and ‘suspect’. The circumstances in which the word ‘suspect’ appears in Douglass

narrative as compared to the runaway advertisements are particularly powerful as Douglass uses

it to describe his owners’ potential behaviors. The first time it appears, Douglass references how

the wives of owners who have children with their slaves are suspicious of their husbands

showing favor to the children. The next time, Douglass portrays how his one owner, Anthony,

was never suspected of being a virtuous man. The third appearance of the word ‘suspect’

revealed how Colonel Lloyd, Douglass’ other owner, only had to ‘suspect’ a slave of neglecting

his horses and they would receive “the severest punishment; no excuse could shield them” All

three of these interactions describe the lack of humaneness white slave owners had at the time,

but more than this, it reveals the lack of Christian values that the owners were displaying. The

word ‘suspect’ is particularly triggering with regard to the runaway slave narratives as many of

there traits that the writers of the ads would ‘suspect’ the slaves of having were assumptions

based on admirable qualities. For example, one advertisement goes so far as to suggest that a

slave who “generally smiles when he speaks” is ‘suspected’ of “lurking about a plantation” as he

is so “dissembling” and “artful”. Thus, a slave who has mustered up what little joy he has left

100

in him to even smile when spoken to, is suspected of manipulating those he encounters. Thus the

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 13.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 14.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 19.

Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon),

100

Williamsburg, March 9, 1769. http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=/

xml_docs/slavery/ads/rg69.xml&style=/xml_docs/slavery/ads/display_ad.xsl&ad=v1769030329

Omarshah !57

use of the word on both sides of the racial divide was very different. For Douglass, ‘suspect’ is

used to describe the lack of Christian values and general morality in his cruel masters’ treatment

of himself and other slaves. In contrast, the word ‘suspect’ used in runaway slave advertisements

is used to project inaccurate assumptions based on positive attributes held by the slaves in

question. In many ways, this occurs for the other words found in both texts.

In Northup’s narrative, the word that most dominates in common with the slave narratives

is the word ‘lie’, and its variations (lying, liar, lied). The kidnapping and then enslavement of

Northup was an enormous tragedy and highlighted the grave potential of whites to ruin a free

black man’s life. Northup’s narrative acts as evidence that he was lied to on many accounts for

the sake of his captures earning money through his price. Even when he was faced with near

death injuries, Northup himself “could not force from [his] lips the foul lie that [he] was a

slave.” In contrast, the authors of the runaway slave advertisements do not shy away from

101

making bold assumptions regarding their former slaves. The frequent use of the words ‘likely’,

‘expect’, ‘believe’, ‘may attempt’ and ‘suspect’ are reflections of the hedged guesses as to the

future deceitful actions of the individuals in question. The word ‘lie’ and its variations are found

in the runaway slave advertisements in abundance and are often associated with younger

individuals. The young people who were able to escape their dire circumstances are often

accused of theft and committing other deceitful crimes, but in many of these cases, the monetary

reward amount for returning the individuals is extremely high. One narrative is so abruptly

contradictory, its first line is “Stop Thief and Runaway!! TEN DOLLARS REWARD”. If an

102

Northup, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, 45.

101

Norfolk Herald (Willett and O'Connor),

102

Norfolk, September 22, 1796. http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=/

xml_docs/slavery/ads/vg1796.xml&style=/xml_docs/slavery/ads/display_ad.xsl&ad=v1796090132

Omarshah !58

individual is so deceitful and a compulsive liar, why would a slave owner desire for them to be

returned?

As an escaped slave, it must have been eye-opening to read a runaway advertisement

about oneself. The literal seeing of yourself through the eyes of your oppressor could spark many

reactions. The first could be a change in one’s appearance and actions. If you were to be

recognized for your clothing, accent or overall mannerisms, it would be understandable if a slave

would change their behavior/appearance. The second reaction, could be of shock at the

realization of how much a person who oppressed you valued you and your skills. The forced

recognition of talents and abilities from a person who had treated you as inferior is particularly

powerful. Finally, to be able to see a document that recognized your existence in a world which

classified you as less than human, would be a striking way to start your life as now a free

individual.

This experiment brought to light the differences in circumstance in language was used by

Solomon Northup and Frederick Douglass in comparison to runaway slave advertisements.

Where Douglass and Northup used their words purposefully to identify the injustices in their

lives, the authors of the runaway advertisements projected character-assumptions based on

physical traits of individuals they did not fully understand. It becomes immediately apparent the

disconnect of understanding slave owners had for the individuals that they enslaved.

Furthermore, although there were some parallels in language used in the runaway advertisements

considered and the narratives of Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup, these connections

was not reflected in the descriptions of identity in the narratives. Although the increase in the use

of the word ‘I’ occurred post-emancipation, the language chosen by Douglass and Northup to

Omarshah !59

describe their views of themselves was not reflected in the language of the advertisements.

Douglass describes his desire to keep his first name given to him by his mother as a way “to

preserve a sense of my identity.” Names and oral histories were important parts of the

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identities many slaves carried with them post-emancipation. Thus the language of ‘self’ as seen

in the use of words in the two narratives developed separately to the language projected onto

slaves by slave owners in runaway advertisements.

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 62.

103

Omarshah !60

Conclusion

Ran away, Glenn Ligon. He’s a shortish broad-shouldered black man, pretty dark-

skinned, with glasses. Kind of stocky, tends to look down and turn in when he walks.

Real short hair, almost none. Clothes nondescript, something button-down and plaid,

maybe, and shorts and sandals. Wide lower face and narrow upper face. Nice teeth.

104

Glenn Ligon is a modern day visual artist who presented an exhibition entitled Runaways

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1993. Ligon asked ten of his close friends to describe him

as if they were filing a missing person’s report, however they were instructed to use what he

called ‘police language’. Ligon was concerned with the experience many slaves had of having

one’s identity projected onto them through a runaway advertisement. Through imagery, language

and the experience of being ‘watched’ by ‘an other’, Ligon asks the viewers of his own

‘advertisements’ to consider more than just the racial divide but also the complex relationship

between master and slave. Ligon concerns himself with “bringing the notion of slavery into the

present.”

105

Ligon was also moved by the narrative of Henry “Box” Brown, the example of a slave

narrative with which I opened the project. Brown’s creative use of a box to mail himself to

freedom inspired Ligon to explore the symbol of a confined, cubed space as a mode of resilience

and freedom. He describes how he “became fascinated with the idea of this box as the container

Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Glenn Ligon Runaways." Metropolitan Museum of Art.

104

Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/

490240.

Hansen, Liane. "Glenn Ligon Reframes History In The Art Of 'America.'" NPR. Last

105

modified May 8, 2011. Accessed April 23, 2016. http://www.npr.org/2011/05/

08/136022514/glenn-ligon-reframes-history-in-the-art-of-america.

Omarshah !61

for the body, but also the idea that if he had spoken, it would have been the thing that would have

given him away.” The box, although it creates notions of being cramped and confined, it was

106

used as a mechanism of liberation for Brown. Ligon presented an exhibition entitled To

Disembark which consisted of crates in a room with projections emanating from within. He uses

sounds like Billie Holidays “Strange Fruit” and KRS-One singing “Sound of Da Police”, which

barely resonate out of the crates, to symbolize the restriction of voices in the time of slavery. It

also renders contemporary the struggle of slavery by referencing surveillance, control and race-

induced police brutality.

107

The image of the ‘box’ as confinement mirrors the physical limitations of the slave

narratives. Just as the box that Henry Brown was shut into forced him to remain silent in order to

maintain his freedom, there are parts of the lives of the people behind slave narratives like

Frederick Douglass’ and Solomon Northup’s that will remain forever silenced. For example,

Douglass refused to relay his means of escape for the sake of other slaves at the time potentially

escaping the same way. This is but one of many examples of stories and experiences we as

readers and scholars will never fully know. Although it was telling and informative to analyze the

texts discussed through a computer program and through manual close reading, there will be

information that cannot be tapped into just by the nature of the atmosphere of when the

narratives were written.

Furthermore, it is misleading to draw the conclusion that because Solomon Northup was

born a free man, when he was being indoctrinated with the belief that slaves were not human

Hansen, "Glenn Ligon Reframes History."

106

Hansen, "Glenn Ligon Reframes History."

107

Omarshah !62

beings by his white oppressors, or thats he did not feel a burden on his soul. This was not the

case. The narratives themselves are a presentation of a self that is not complete. Both Douglass

and Northup had lives outside of their narratives, which solely represented their experiences in

slavery and the identities they choose to portray in their books. In many ways the ‘characters’ of

Douglass and Northup have freedom inside the framework of a slave narrative that they did not

have in their worlds post-emancipation. Thus, although the slave narratives are a means of

writing oneself into existence, that self has its own persona and identity beyond the pages of the

books.

Many of the arguments made in this project explain how slave narratives can be seen as

advertisements for abolition and that runaway slave advertisements can be seen as forms of

narratives. Often times the history of slavery is taught and described as if it is no longer relevant.

The climate of inequality and systematic oppression are present today in different forms. A form

of runaway advertisements was recreated easily by Glenn Ligon, all through the lens of using

‘police-language’. It is particularly telling that the language used by enforcers of the law to

locate missing criminals matches the language used by slave-owners to describe escaped slaves.

The history of police departments themselves is closely linked to what was once known as ‘Slave

Patrols’ which were a “law enforcement system existed in America before the Civil War for the

express purpose of controlling the slave population and protecting the interests of slave

owners.” As historian Victor E. Kappeler, Ph.D writes in his article entitled, “A Brief History

108

of Slavery and the Origins of American Policing”:

David, M. "Police Originated From ‘Slave Catching Patrols’." Counter

108

Current News. Last modified April 15, 2015. Accessed May 1, 2016.

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/04/ police-originated-from-slave-catching-patrols/.

Omarshah !63

Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were

both designed to control the behaviors of minorities. For example, New England settlers

appointed Indian Constables to police Native Americans (National Constable Association,

1995), the St. Louis police were founded to protect residents from Native Americans in

that frontier city, and many southern police departments began as slave patrols. In 1704,

the colony of Carolina developed the nation’s first slave patrol. Slave patrols helped to

maintain the economic order and to assist the wealthy landowners in recovering and

punishing slaves who essentially were considered property.

109

In a time when law enforcement targets not criminals, but stereotypical notions of what are

deemed ‘criminal characteristics’, many parallels can be drawn to the many who hunted for

runaway slaves. What does it mean for our society that the language of documents describing

escaped slaves from two centuries ago, matches the language used to describe wanted criminals?

The ever-present news stories of police-brutality against minorities, in particular, young African

American males, are proof that the demonization of minorities through projected identities is still

relevant today. Moreover, the history of communities self-policing through the hunt for runaway

slaves is the foundation on which the American legal enforcement system was built. In this way,

we are still steeped in a history that has been deemed irrelevant.

David, "Police Originated From ‘Slave," Counter Current News.

109

Omarshah !64

Appendix

Figure 1: Opening image of Solomon Northup’s narrative with his signature beneath it. Northup,

Solomon. "Twelve Years a Slave Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York,

Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the

Red River in Louisiana." Edited by David Wilson. Gutenberg-e. Last modified May 11, 2014.

Accessed March 26, 2016. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45631/45631-h/45631-

h.htm#CHAPTER_I.

Omarshah !65

Figure 2: Python Coding with breakdown of steps

Omarshah !66

Sample original Runaway Slave Advertisements used in Chapter 3 experiment, taken from:

"Explore Advertisements." The Geography of Slavery in Virginia. The Rector and Visitors of the

University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. <http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/index.html>.

Figure 3: Virginia Gazette (Parks), Williamsburg, May 2 to May 9, 1745.

Figure 4: Virginia Gazette (Rind),Williamsburg, April 26th, 1770.

Omarshah !67

Figure 5: Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon), Williamsburg, November 5, 1772.

Figure 6: Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon),Williamsburg, July 28, 1768.

Omarshah !68

Figure 7: Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon), Williamsburg, March 9, 1769.

Figure 8: Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon), Williamsburg, March 19, 1772.

Omarshah !69

Figure 9: Output results for ‘I’ and variants summation. The first two rows starting from ‘358’

shows the ‘I’ counts of the first half and second half of Frederick Douglass’ narrative

consecutively. The row where it says’31’ reflects the ‘I’ counts in the Runaway Slave

Advertisements considered. The final two rows starting with ‘751’ reflects the first half of

Solomon Northup’s narrative ‘I’ count followed by the second half results.

110

Omarshah !70

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